One person dies in Kerala waterfall due to flash flood caused by rains
A senior forest official of the area said that as soon as they noticed the rainfall and change in water level they asked everyone to move out of the waterfalls but five people could not quickly move away to safety.
One person died and another got injured, both hailing from Tamil Nadu, after being swept away in a flash flood at Kumbhavurutty Falls -- a popular tourist attraction in this southern Kerala district -- due to the heavy rainfall in the surrounding forest area.
A senior forest official of the area said that as soon as they noticed the rainfall and change in water level they asked everyone to move out of the waterfalls but five people could not quickly move away to safety.
However, forest officials managed to rescue three of them, while two got swept away with one of them hitting his head on the rocks at the bottom of the falls, the official said.
The two who got swept away had suffered injuries and were rescued, but one of them died later in the hospital, he said.
The forest official said that as a result of the incident, the waterfalls have been closed down till some security measures, like a safety net perhaps, are put in place to prevent anyone from being swept away or losing their balance and falling to the bottom of the falls.
The falls are primarily frequented by people from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the rains in parts of Kottayam district flooded eight houses in Kanjirappally taluk and also caused a landslide in Munnilav village in Meenachil taluk, the district officials said.
The water level of Meenachil river at Cherippad station also crossed the warning level due to heavy rainfall in the region since afternoon, officials said.
The central Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rains in Kerala till August 4 with orange alert being issued in various districts in the week ahead.
In view of the Orange alerts issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the coming week, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said those in hilly areas should be cautious and as a precautionary measure they should be shifted to relief camps as soon as rains start.
The Chief Minister, in a Facebook post, also said an order be issued prohibiting vehicular traffic to the hilly regions of the Western Ghats from 7 PM to 7 AM, district and taluk control rooms should be on alert 24X7, police and fire brigades should be ready for action and steps should be taken to prevent potential accidents due to trees, hoardings or posts being dislodged by strong winds.
He further said camps should also be set up in coastal areas and fishermen should not be allowed to go to sea.
Besides that, power houses and important institutions in low-lying areas which could get inundated due to the rains should take precautionary measures, water level in dams be monitored closely and the situation communicated to the district and state disaster management authorities in time, Vijayan said in his post.
He said people should be careful as, in the coming days, the rains were likely to intensify.
Orange alert has been issued in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Idukki districts of the state for August 1.
Orange alert has been issued in eight districts for August 2, 12 for August 3 and 12 on August 4, according to an IMD district rainfall forecast issued for Kerala at 1 PM on Sunday.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while orange alert means very heavy rains from 6 cm to 20 cm of rain. A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.
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